Contents

History

The Landespolizei can trace its origins to 19th century
Germany when the various German kingdoms maintained separate police
forces, the two largest of which were the Prussian Secret Police and the
Bavarian State Police. When
Germany united into a single country, under Otto von
Bismarck, the various Kingdom and other state level police
agencies maintained their Landespolizei forces and various
towns and cities also maintained separate police forces as the
increasing number of new laws and regulations made controlling
urban life more complicated.

After World War
II, massive numbers of refugees and displaced persons, hunger
and poverty characterised everyday life in Germany. Attacks by
armed gangs, robbery, looting and black-marketing were commonplace
and the military police could not cope with this troubling security
situation. So each of the Western Allies quickly permitted the
formation of civilian police forces in Western Germany under terms
that reflected their own police structures and traditions. In all
three Western zones, the emphasis was to decentralise, demilitarise
and democratise the police. Some restrictions were lifted as Cold
War tensions grew and certain police functions necessitated central
rather than local direction. The Landespolizei became the
police force for the federal states in the West.

Organization

The uniform patch of the Bavarian Police Force

All state police forces are subordinate to the Land
Minister of the Interior. The internal structures of these police
forces differ somewhat (which makes generalizations subject to
local variation), but usually immediately subordinate to the
interior ministries are the regional police headquarters (called
Präsidium in most states, Landespolizeidirektion
in Baden-Württemberg). These direct operations over a wide area or
in a big city and have administrative and supervisory functions.
The Präsidium often has direct control of the force’s
specialist units such as highway patrols, mounted detachments and
canine units. Under the regional headquarters, there are several
district police headquarters (Direktionen) serving
communities of from 200,000 to 600,000 citizens. Subordinate to
each Direktion, there are several local stations
(Inspektion) or precincts (Revier) that are
manned on a 24-hour basis, conduct day-to-day policing and serve as
points of contact for local citizens. Below this level, the
Polizeiposten is a small police office manned by one or
two officers, normally only during office hours.

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Territorial

Pocket badge of the Munich police force

The State Police wear the state patch on the uniform sleeve and
sometimes metal city badges are worn over the right breast pocket
indicating which police department they work for. Police officers
can be transferred anywhere within their state.

Operational

State police forces are divided into the following operational
sections:

Kriminalpolizei ("Kripo") -
the plain clothes detective branch, responsible for investigations.
For instance, if a car is broken into, the Schupo will respond,
secure the car, notify the owner etc, and then hand the case over
to Kripo for investigation.

Bereitschaftspolizei (BePo) -
Uniformed units of the LaPo used when additional manpower is
required, for example during political demonstrations.

Landeskriminalamt (LKA) - State
Investigation Bureau is directly subordinate to the state Ministry
of the Interior, supervises police operations aimed at preventing
and investigating criminal offences, and coordinates investigations
involving more than one Präsidium.

Wasserschutzpolizei (WSP) -
The river police for patrolling rivers, lakes and harbours. For
practical reasons the WSP of one state may be in charge for
territory of another state (e.g., in Hamburg, the WSP is in charge
for the Elbe River in the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower
Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg.)

Training

The individual Länder and the Federal Police conduct
basic police training for their personnel. The length and
thoroughness of this training contributes in large degree to the
high level of police professionalism in Germany. Teaching all
aspects of police work takes time but supports a “uniform career
structure” that aims to avoid premature specialization, lets
officers think in broad terms, makes career field changes easier
and improves promotion opportunities.

German citizenship is not required to be a police officer in
Germany. Police departments in big cities are especially keen to
recruit officers from ethnic minorities to reduce language and
cultural barriers. However, minorities still make up less than one
percent of officer numbers.

The Land police have had women members since the forces
were reconstituted after World War II. Initially, female officers
were only assigned to cases involving juveniles and women but in
the mid-1970s they were allowed to become patrol officers. The
proportion of women on patrol duty is set to rise as 40-50 percent
of police school inductees are currently female.

Most police recruits are taken on directly after leaving school
and spend about two and a half years at police school in combined
classroom tuition and on-the-job training with police departments
and the Bereitschaftspolizei. These people
qualify as regular police officers and wear green (or light blue on
the new blue uniforms) stars on their shoulder straps, denoting
rank in the first echelon of the police service.

After duty as a patrol officer, someone with an outstanding
record or wealth of experience can go on to two or three years at a
higher police school or college of public administration to qualify
for the upper echelon which starts with Polizeikommissar
(one silver star) and ascends to Erster
Polizeihauptkommissar (four or five silver stars). Direct
entry candidates with the Abitur high school diploma can also take
these courses. Some states such as Hessen now
train all their police officers for the upper echelon to improve
pay and promotion chances.

The very few candidates who qualify for the police service’s
executive ranks study for one year at a state police academy and
then for another at the German Police University (Deutsche
Hochschule der Polizei – DHPol) in Münster-Hiltrup where
graduates earn a masters degree in police administration.
Direct-entry candidates with a university degree only study for six
months at the DHPol. The executive echelon begins with
Polizeirat (one gold star) and culminates with the
Land chief of uniformed police (gold wreath with one to
three stars) or Federal Police chief (gold wreath with four stars).
The DHPol that the states and Federal Interior Ministry administer
jointly also provides specialized vocational courses for senior
police personnel.

Exceptions

The Bundeskriminalamt
(BKA - the German Federal Investigation Bureau) and the Bundespolizei
(BPOL - Federal Police) are federal institutions that are not part
of the Landespolizei.